The suicides of several Australian Federal Police officers inside their own workplaces has prompted tighter gun rules.

Four Australian Federal Police officers have killed themselves at their workplace in the last two years, and so the force is imposing tighter firearm rules, such as requiring a specific reason for officers who want access to their weapons.

AFP officers had previously been able to check out their guns even while off duty.

“One officer taking their life is one officer too many,” AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin said.

“These are our colleagues. People we know. People who have been in the organisation, by and large, for a very long time. So it's a difficult time for the AFP.”

A report by PTSD support group Phoenix Australia recently found that one in four officers experience moderate to high psychological distress.

Other reports have found problems including poor understanding of mental health issues in AFP management.

A major issue is that officers are reluctant to self-report struggles, fearing the repercussions for speaking up, and also reporting concerns about confidentiality, their pay and career prospects.

“We are starting to talk about this a lot more,” Commissioner Colvin said.

“Through tragedy comes opportunities for us to learn; through tragedy comes opportunities for us to get better. I can see within the AFP we are becoming an organisation that is saying, it is ok to talk about this, it is ok to share these experiences, it's ok to admit that you're struggling.

“We just weren't thinking these issues through.

“The old adage that police run towards the problem when everyone else runs away, that's in our DNA, that's what we do, so the idea that we should stop and take a break because we're tired, because we're fatigued, because we're having trouble, is so foreign to police.

“That's changing.”

Australian Federal Police Association President Angela Smith has told ABC reporters that the firearm restrictions are not a complete solution.

“It's filled the gap for the moment, but is that the answer?” she asked.

“I know it's not, because we've had a near-miss just recently anyway … restricting people getting to their gun lockers didn't solve it.”

She called for new methods to track officers’ exposure to traumatic jobs, and for the AFP to take lessons from similar agencies in Australia and internationally.

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